Lucy the Reaper
by Elantine
Summary: Grim Reaper AU Oneshot. Being Natsu Dragneel's reaper was always difficult considering he got himself into deadly situations on the daily. However, Lucy finds that she doesn't mind watching over his soul. In fact, she realizes she may enjoy it a little too much when she is willing to defy all of the laws of her kind in order to save it.


"Oh, I can't watch this," the blonde moaned, burying her head in her hands, causing the hooded cloak that she adorned at all times to almost completely obscure her body.

Her companion, who was watching the scene play out in front of them with an entirely different reaction, chuckled lowly. "I really think this is it, Lucy. The flaming idiot is really gonna die this time."

Lucy chose not to respond to Gray's (probably accurate) take on the events unfolding in front of them, internally cursing her luck instead.

Of all the humans in all of Earthland that she could get stuck with reaping, it had to be Natsu Dragneel, the pyromaniac with a penchant for getting himself into trouble.

It wasn't that she didn't like him—just the opposite really. She found his easy smiles, bravery, and dedication to his friends to be all extremely admirable (and though she would never admit it, extremely attractive) traits. But when one was tasked with guarding the soul of a wizard who was a member of a guild that constantly found itself in deadly situations, and said wizard always managed to get himself at the front of the fight, well… Lucy found her job to be very difficult, to say the least.

At the sound of another loud crash and a deafening roar, Lucy was forced to return her attention to what was happening beyond the veil between her world, where she was supposed to watch over her charge as his guardian until his soul was ready to make the journey between their worlds and beyond. She immediately cringed when she saw Natsu's prone body being flung back from the mage he was fighting, a crazy-eyed blonde with a penchant for cackling and an affinity for fire similar to Natsu's. Lucy assumed that's why he was having so much trouble with this particular fight—he had never faced a fire mage of such a caliber before, and Lucy worried that he may be more powerful than her Bonded after all.

"Relax, Lucy," Gray said, flinging an arm around Lucy's shoulders in what she supposed was an attempt at comfort, though his nonchalant words only set her more on edge. "He's been in tougher fights before." When she merely gave him a dubious look, he shrugged and continued. "Okay, maybe he hasn't been stuck on an island with a bunch of crazy strong wizards all hell-bent on destroying Fairy Tail before. But it doesn't really matter. If he dies, he dies; and you then do your job and carry his soul beyond the Gate. And then you're able to move on as well. I'm sure it won't be so bad."

Lucy loved Gray, she really did. He was one of her closest companions as they were often able to watch over their bonded together since they were a part of the same guild. In fact, he was really her only friend besides Jellal, at least whenever he decided to actually show up. (Erza Scarlet got herself into enough deadly situations that Jellal's presence should be near constant, yet his appearances during guild-wide crises were few and far between. Lucy had to wonder if that masked man with a similar facial tattoo who would randomly pop up in Earthland was at all related, but she would never rat Jellal out by stating her theory aloud.) However, Lucy and Gray did disagree rather decidedly on one point, and that was their bonds.

Lucy probably watched over Natsu more than was strictly necessary. They were only supposed to be present and ready if their bonded were in mortal danger, but Lucy found herself watching Natsu almost constantly. The time he spent with his friends at the guild, the fishing trips he took with his exceed companion, Happy, all of the big moments of his life.

She was born for him—that's what it meant to be Bonded. They grew together and would continue to do so until Natsu's time on Earthland expired, and then Lucy was free to do whatever she wanted beyond the Veil. This was a time many reapers coveted and looked forward to, because freedom without responsibility was something that was almost unanimously desired by all creatures. But Lucy was different, because Lucy found her happiness not in the times where she didn't have to watch over and guard Natsu's soul, but in those that she was watching him. What she desired wasn't freedom, but the kind of love and joy that Natsu was able to experience in his world with his guildmates and friends. So she found herself living vicariously through his adventures and she couldn't have asked for a better soul to be bonded to.

But that was a dangerous thing. Despite their mandate to protect the souls of their bonded while living on Earthland, and from any vicious creatures they may encounter on their journey to the afterlife, they had a clear rule that forbade reapers from developing any sort of feelings for their counterparts—whether that be friendship, envy, or love. This was normally not a problem for reapers, as a majority only saw their bonded as their job and knew that it was the one thing preventing them from retirement. They did their job and protected their souls, of course, but it was out of a sense of duty rather than a desire to actually help.

Lucy, as previously stated, was not like other reapers though.

She scowled at her raven-haired friend and shook his arm off. "It's not his time yet," was all she said, because it was all she could say without giving herself away.

Gray rolled his eyes. "You don't know that. I'm honestly surprised flame-brain has been able to survive this far. Your job is one of the hardest I'd ever heard of. I'd be relieved if I was you."

Lucy knew that Gray's words shouldn't upset her. Because they were true, and because it was a sentiment held by most reapers and that Gray was playing it safe by expressing that. However, she had a feeling that he didn't necessarily hold that viewpoint.

"Shouldn't you be watching over Juvia right now? I thought she got into a pretty rough fight with that crazy pink-haired girl?"

Lucy tried to hide her smirk when Gray immediately tensed. He tried to play it off by shrugging and replying steadily, "She's safe, for now. She's unconscious back at base. The demon woman is watching over her and the other injured."

Gray was much better at hiding his emotions, Lucy knew. To any outside ears that may be watching over their work, it would seem as if he didn't care at all what happened to the beautiful water mage. But Lucy knew better. It was in the glint of worry in his midnight blue eyes and the way he said "she was safe" rather than "her soul is safe." But Gray knew what the rules were as well as Lucy, and he didn't have her innate optimism or hope for a life outside of reaping.

"I just came to check out how the idiot is faring in all of this and then I'm heading back."

What he really meant was _I came to make sure you didn't do anything stupid._

"Well, it doesn't look too good, but I've got a handle on things."

 _I know, I won't. You can go back to her now._

They shared a look of understanding before Gray gave her a small smile and left to return to wherever Juvia was on the island.

Lucy heaved a sigh of mingled annoyance and distress before returning her gaze to her dragonslayer and his battle. He was standing again, much to Lucy's relief, and had his back to her as he faced off against Zancrow.

Natsu seemed to be faring better now that he had figured out that he wasn't able to consume Zancrow's flames and was currently fighting back in true Fairy Tail fashion. Lucy couldn't resist smiling softly—Fairy Tail was a truly powerful guild, but that wasn't what made them special. It was the spirit with which they fought, something that Lucy found incredibly inspiring. If she were ever able to join a guild, it would be Fairy Tail. The thought of finally having a family, a place where she could belong, was ridiculously enticing. But it was a reality that Lucy knew could never be.

"Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!"

Lucy's attention was once again riveted on Natsu at his yell, and she gasped in surprise at the searing heat she felt once his magic clashed with Zancrow's. Their magic was truly impressive if she was able to feel it through the veil that separated her from him. She found herself stepping back from the oppressive heat, realizing she was watching the fight too closely anyway. She looked behind her when she heard a young voice shout a fearful warning at the pinkette, and was surprised to find the little Sky Maiden, Wendy, being carried away by Happy and Carla. Lucy frowned, concern gnawing at her. Wendy was a dragonslayer, yes, but she was too young and inexperienced to be dealing with such a thing. Lucy found a little comfort in the fact that Mest wasn't nearby, hoping that meant that Wendy wasn't in as much danger as she feared. But then she harshly admonished herself—as much as Lucy liked the kind, blue-haired girl, she wasn't the one she was bonded too. She shouldn't care what happened to her.

Lucy gasped, her eyes going wide when she turned back to Natsu just in time to see Zancrow swallow Natsu's fire dragon roar. That was one of Natsu's most powerful attacks, and it had done nothing.

Actually, no. It was worse than nothing.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted in warning, though she knew it would never reach him. It was too late anyway.

"Flame God's Bellow!"

Natsu cried out in surprise when he was thrown from the cliff, and Lucy found herself frozen in fear for a moment. But then she felt it, the strong pulse of Natsu's soul where it was tied to hers and she breathed a sigh of relief. She should have known it would take a lot more to hurt her dragonslayer.

She raced after him, relieved to find him only a few minutes later, wandering at the edge of the cliff.

"Man, that guy's hardcore," he was saying, and Lucy couldn't help but roll her eyes. What an understatement. "It's been a long time since fire's felt hot to me. Wait… where the heck am I?!"

He paused then, turning to look right at where she was standing a few steps behind him and to his left. Lucy froze, not even daring to breath as it appeared that he was looking directly at her. She waited to see what he would do, what he would say—

"I know that smell!" He suddenly gasped, making Lucy jump just before he ran right through her.

Lucy groaned and shook her head, frustrated with herself and with the situation. She knew that he couldn't see her. That he would never see her. She may have been standing just a few feet beside him, close enough to touch him in a different reality, but the veil between their worlds was akin to a fluid one-way mirror. Lucy could move freely across his plane of existence, but she and the other reapers could only see, not be seen. The humans of Earthland were ignorant of their existence and the role they played in their lives, as they always would be.

One would think Lucy would have learned by now, but if there was one thing she had an abundance of in her modest life as a reaper, it was hope that one day Natsu would see her, just so that she could be a part of the incredible adventure of his life for even a moment rather than being stuck in her oppressive existence as a creature of the In-Between.

After collecting herself, she turned to follow Natsu only to gasp. He was crouched above the master of Fairy Tail, who appeared to be gravely injured. Things were worse than she thought if Makarov Dreyar the Wizard Saint was in such a dire condition.

"Natsu," she heard him rasp as she neared the scene cautiously. "Natsu, listen. The chances of use defeating Grimoire Heart… are nil."

Lucy crouched next to him, mirroring Natsu on his other side, but felt her stomach drop and bile rise in her throat. Things were much worse than she thought indeed. Could today really be the day…

"You must be out of your mind right now! The Gramps I know would never say something like that!"

"You're injured my boy," Makarov interrupted, ignoring Natsu's claim. "Who did that to you?"

Lucy drowned out Natsu's loud declarations of violence upon Zancrow, trying to figure out what she should do. She was essentially powerless in this situation. If Natsu were to die on this island with his friends, she was merely required to protect his soul and take it to the afterlife. But the thought of Natsu, her one, constant companion throughout her miserable existence as little more than a ghost made her sick.

She clenched her fists and drew a deep breath, her amber eyes hardening as she raised her head and looked upon her Bonded with a new resolve. She was charged with protecting his soul, and that was what she would do, consequences be dammed. She just wasn't sure how—

A loud crash and the cracking of earth sounded to Lucy's left and she whirled around to face the threat and saw Natsu do the same out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, well, looks like Master Hades did a number on you, eh Makarov?"

It was Zancrow again, cackling and hopping on his toes in some sort of eager dance.

Lucy's perfectly arched brows furrowed. Fairy Tail had the strangest enemies, that was for sure.

"He's the one who did this to you?" Natsu demanded, not even sparing Master Makarov a look as he stood shakily.

"Let it go my boy!"

"I ain't backing down," Natsu assured, though anyone could hear the tremble in his voice, but Lucy, who likely knew him better than anyone despite never actually speaking to him, saw the sweat beading on his forehead and the terror in his eyes as he faced Zancrow and felt her breath catch in her chest.

He's afraid, she thought, watching her Bonded tremble ever so slightly where he stood. Natsu had faced many enemies during his tenure as a fairy, but never had he faced one with such fear in his heart. If she wasn't already aware of it before, she knew then that this was a fight that even Natsu wasn't sure he could win.

Zancrow was taunting Natsu ruthlessly, getting sick pleasure at the sight of the fear he had caused in the boy. Makarov was pleading with Natsu to run, to find the others and get off the island, and Lucy found herself praying to any god that would listen that he would just this once do what he was told. But Natsu was stubborn and loyal until the end, and she knew that he wouldn't leave his nakama behind. And even if he did, even if Fairy Tail did make it off the island, she had a feeling this Grimoire Heart would follow.

She was brought out of her internal conflict when Natsu's familiar flames surrounded him. "I ain't tremblin' because of you," he growled at Zancrow. "The only thing that I'm afraid of right now is that someone else will do in the jerk that beat up Gramps before I get the chance to get a few good licks in."

Lucy reeled back as the heat became unbearable once more when the flames stoked around Natsu even higher. She gasped when she saw the gleam in his eye and the resolve on his face—her Natsu was back. "You're gonna pay. I won't let you guys get away with this!"

His head snapped up and he finally locked eyes with his opponent, and Lucy smugly noticed that the manic gleam in Zancrow's eyes and his strange swaying movements faltered slightly at the sight. "I'll take down Master Hades, and I'll do it with my own two hands!"

Zancrow was suddenly in Natsu's face, and they were fighting once more. Lucy was enthralled as she watched black and red flames dance across the clearing, hitting trees and other objects in their path more often than they actually connected with each other. Natsu seemed to be holding his own and Lucy was just beginning to think she may have overestimated Zancrow when he captured Natsu in his divine flames.

"You should quit fightin'," the manic blonde taunted Natsu, the psychotic gleam in his red eyes ever present. "'Cause once my blaze has got ya, there's no getting out until you've been turned to ash!"

"Natsu!" Lucy cried desperately and rushed towards where Zancrow was torturing him in his fire. She looked up at him helplessly as he cried out, and felt the overwhelming need to do something, though she couldn't figure out what.

If only she could get through the veil…

When Natsu's cries rose in pitch, she decided. She wasn't going to idly stand by and watch her Bonded die if she could help it, and she would gladly pay for it later if that was what was required.

She had never heard of a reaper breaking through the barrier between their realms before. They were only supposed to be able to cross over briefly to retrieve the soul of their Bonded when they died, but Lucy figured now was as good of time as any to try.

She stepped back from Natsu's pained form and his crazed captor and closed her eyes in concentration, blocking out all sound from beyond the Veil. She took a deep breath in, extended her right hand, and summoned her death scythe, which slowly formed in a cloud of black smoke around her hand, extending and elongating into the powerful weapon of a true reaper. Lucy's eyes opened, amber orbs determined as they focused on the veil before her until it was all she could see. Then, with a mighty cry, she swung her weapon in a perfect arc, tearing through the Veil.

The first thing Lucy noticed was she smell of flames and burning flesh as she passed through. She looked around, eyes wide with wonder as she made her first step onto the packed dirt of the ground, noticing how much more vibrant the sight, smells, and sounds of their world were from this vantage point. She couldn't believe she hadn't dared to experience this kind of life before.

The sound of a pained yell reminded Lucy of her purpose here and she snapped to attention to find Master Makarov with Zancrow in his grasp, lit up in flames and clearly hurting the elderly man. She moved to aid him when she heard Natsu scream.

Makarov was forgotten in the fear that the sound of Natsu screaming caused, so clear and near to her now that she was in the same plane of existence as him in a way that she had never thought possible before. Lucy whirled around to find that he had gone limp in Zancrow's flames. She froze, fearing that she had been too late to save him after all, when she saw him move. And then he was doing what Zancrow had boasted as the impossible—he was eating the divine flames.

"No!" Zancrow protested, as if reading her thoughts, "A dragon hunter shouldn't be able to eat my flames!"

"I get it now," Natsu grunted, rubbing at his mouth as the flames around him disappeared fully. "I had no clue there was a special trick to eating certain types of fire."

Lucy could only stare at him in shock, taking in his collected expression that gave no hint to the torture that he had been experiencing only moments prior. His hair was more richly colored now that they were on the same side of the veil, and she found herself entranced by the determined look in his obsidian eyes, though her gaze quickly wandered across the rest of his body (checking for injures, she justified to herself), and blushed as she noticed the firmness of his muscles and the way he carried himself as if he could take on anything. She realized she should have known better than to think that Natsu wouldn't prevail—he didn't need her. He never had. She only had to have faith in him.

Her inner berating of herself was violently cut off when Makarov suddenly threw Zancrow through the air and raged, "How could you be so foolish Natsu! Do you want to DIE?!"

"Of course I don't Gramps. And I won't let anyone else either. No one's dying—at least not on my watch anyway. We're all gonna make it back home—to Fairy Tail!"

Lucy could only watch from her position behind Master Makarov, seemingly still unnoticed for the moment, as Natsu roared, red flames encompassing his right hand and black in his left. "Dragon divine flames—come together to become one! Dragon God, Brilliant Flames," he cried, leaping at Zancrow and delivering the final blow.

Lucy and Makarov watched Natsu with twin looks of awed disbelief on their faces as he panted, attempting to catch his breath after such a stunning feat. It took Lucy only a moment to come out of her stupor though, and she decided to return to her realm before anything too cataclysmic happened now that she realized that Natsu had never needed her help after all.

She was just about the step back through the still visible tear in their realm when she heard a voice she knew only too well shout, "Hey! Who the hell are you?"

She froze, turning slowly to face the dragon slayer with wide, panicked eyes.

Both Master Makarov and Natsu were staring at her now, both watching her with guarded and suspicious eyes. When all they did was stare at each other for a moment, Master Makarov finally chose to break the silence. "Well, girl? You don't look like one of Grimoire Heart's lackeys, or one of the Kin for that matter."

Lucy could only mutely shake her head.

Makarov's eyes narrowed. "Then who are you and how are you on this island? Only members of Fairy Tail are welcome here."

Lucy struggled to speak around the lump in her throat. After all this time, she could finally speak to him, her Natsu, and she didn't know what to say. As she watched him stare at her with distrusting eyes, ready to fight again if she made one wrong move, she realized that she had the worst timing possible. Of course they would think she was an enemy when they were on a secluded island that no one knew about that was currently being attacked. What could she say that would make them believe that she wasn't a threat? She was only a foot or so away from the Veil, still only visible to her. Could she make it through before they attacked?

When she continued to only stare at them, panic and fear clear in her wide chocolate eyes, Natsu stepped forward cautiously. "What's your name?"

Lucy blinked in surprise. Such a simple question when they were in such a complicated situation. But she supposed she shouldn't have expected anything else from Natsu. It was with the feeling of confidence that Natsu's predictable nature brought her that Lucy was able to find her voice.

"My name's Lucy, Natsu."

Natsu's eyes widened impossibly with something like recognition. It was her voice, one he had heard a hundred times throughout his life, but had never known where it came from. But now he did.

"It's you," he said shakily, stepping toward her. She wanted to step back, to retreat to her realm where she'd be safe, but she knew that Natsu would never hurt her, and this was her only chance she'd ever have to speak with him like this, and so she took it.

"I'm a reaper, Natsu. I'm your reaper, I—"

She yelped when Master Makarov began to grow at a terrifying rate and she realized that she may have approached this wrong. "What do you mean you're his reaper?!"

"Um, I'm not here to hurt him I swear!" She tried to reassure them, her voice strained with panic and her hands held up, palms open in front of her in a gesture of peace. Dealing with humans was harder than she had expected. "Reapers live beyond your realm and remain there for all of their lives until the, uh, person that we're Bonded to—the person that we're guarding is ready to, well, pass on. But we're charged with watching over you and protecting your soul from our realm until then, so that's what I've been doing."

Natsu and Makarov, who was blessedly returning to his small stature, shared looks of disbelief before Makarov asked, "Then why are you here?"

Lucy swallowed nervously, looking between the two, before locking eyes with Natsu. She found her breath evading her once again as she stared into his all-too expressive obsidian eyes, still not believing that this was real, that she was finally here with him. She took a cautious step forward, never breaking eye contact. "I came because I thought… I was afraid that you were going to lose to Zancrow. I came to help you. I was able to tear a hole in the Veil between our realms large enough for me to fit through."

Natsu raised an eyebrow at that. "But I thought you just said that you were only supposed to come to collect my soul or somethin'."

Lucy nodded, pleased that he was able to grasp her meaning without her having to go into too much detail. She often suspected that Natsu wasn't always as dense as he seemed, but had never had much in the way of evidence until now. "I'm not. But I couldn't watch you get hurt anymore." She looked between the two Fairy Tail mages, trying to convey her sincerity with her pleading gaze as she continued to move closer to Natsu, seemingly pulled to him without reason. "Fairy Tail is in serious trouble, and I've watched you all for most of my life. I won't let this guild die without a fight."

Master Makarov and Natsu, however, weren't entirely convinced. "I'd stay where you are, my girl."

Lucy froze, now only a yard or so away from them. She looked over to see Master Makarov giving her a look of skepticism that made her blood run cold. "I can sense a strange magic from over there, and it could very well be what you claim—a hole between your realm and ours. And you could be a reaper, something I've never heard of and I don't believe in, or you could be lying to us." Lucy flinched. "You must see how this looks. Our guild is under attack and you show up out of the blue like this. Even if you are a reaper, as you say, I don't believe that I'm inclined to let you anywhere near Natsu, given the nature of your existence."

Lucy nodded, unable to say anything. She couldn't help but look at Natsu though.

She was surprised to find an unreadable expression in his eyes as he stared at her intensely. He seemed to be looking for something, but she didn't know what. He didn't seem to know what to say in that moment either.

Well, Lucy, she thought, mentally preparing herself for the inevitable fallout, It's now or never.

"Natsu," she said, meeting his eyes with determination. "I—"

She was caught off by the sound of loud footsteps and the shaking of the earth. Her eyes snapped to look over Natsu's shoulder to see an odd looking man approaching from behind and raising a large fist dangerously. "Natsu, move!" she cried, leaping into action.

Natsu and Makarov both seemed too stunned by her outburst to do anything but watch as Lucy summoned her scythe back into her hand, pushing Natsu out of the way, and blocking the man's giant fist with the flat of her blade all in one fluid movement.

"Where the hell did you come from, Dough Boy?" she demanded through gritted teeth, repositioning to grip her weapon with both hands when he only continued to apply more pressure to her blade in an attempt to over-power her.

At the sight of her deadly glare, the giant man flinched back and ducked behind the tree. Lucy stumbled forward at the sudden lack of pressure against her, and looked between Natsu and Makarov in confusion, and finding both Fairy Tail mages appeared just as perplexed as she was by the new arrival to their strange party, returned her gaze to the man glaring at her from behind his hiding place.

"Do you know who I am Lady?" he demanded. "I'm Kain Hikaru, of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. I'm super strong!"

Lucy raised a dubious eye brow. "Then why are you hiding behind that tree?"

"I'm not hiding!" the cowering man declared hotly.

Natsu picked himself up off the ground and moved to stand by Lucy's side. She tried to ignore the fire that ignited across her shoulder where he brushed against her and the flutter in her stomach, but found it to be a challenge. She had never been touched in this realm where everything was so much... more before, and she found the sensation that the mere brush of his skin against her clothed shoulder caused to be addicting. But now was certainly not the time to be thinking such things.

"It sure looks like it to me," Natsu rebuked, crossing his arms. Makarov seemed content to watch this play out from afar and said nothing.

"Screw you!" Kain yelled, leaping out of his hiding place and striking a pose that may have been meant to be aggressive but came out as more of a constipated-looking crouch. Lucy was ashamed to admit that she jumped regardless. "You asked for it! Now I have to use my curse magic on you. Just give me a lock of your hair."

Lucy and Natsu looked and each other and sweatdropped. "Um, no."

Kain did not appear to like that answer much as he responded by narrowing his eyes dangerously and grumbling, "Then prepare for the Pain Train."

Lucy and Natsu once again shared twin looks of confusion and exasperation, as if they couldn't believe the ridiculous situation that had interrupted their ridiculous situation, but were forced to return their attention to Kain when he bellowed "Chew chew!" and lunged at them.

Lucy dove to the right, rolling and readying her scythe to attack as Natsu leapt to the left, flames now encasing both of his fists.

Kain only had eyes for Lucy though, and he moved to attack her while chanting "Chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga."

Seriously, what was it with Fairy Tail's ememies all being such giant creeps?

Natsu barely missed Kain with an attack and Lucy blocked a blow with her scythe, only for it to be knocked out of her hand and to the ground, where it disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Despite the fact that Natsu was obviously the bigger threat and had just attacked him, Kain continued his pursuit of Lucy, which gave her an idea.

"Natsu!" she yelled, capturing his attention. When he looked at her, eyes still skeptical and guarded, she demanded, "Take Master Makarov and run!"

"What?!" he asked incredulously, before calling, "Fire Dragon Iron Fist" and landing a hit on Kain that sent him back a few steps. But he was back up and after Lucy only seconds later.

"He's injured! He'll only be hurt more if he stays here," she huffed, leaping up and over Kain, summoning her scythe back into her hand and slashing at his back with it on her return to the ground, only to miss by mere inches. She landed roughly, crouched on the ground, and gave Natsu and look that she hoped told him she was serious. "I came here to protect you. All of you. And I will do it, whether you believe me or not. So take your Master and get him to safety. I'll take care of Tubby."

Natsu and she shared a look, and for that moment, she felt the bond between their souls sing at the look of begrudging trust and admiration that he gave her. He nodded.

"You better not be lying to us, or I'll make sure you pay," he warned, giving her one last, fleeting look before scooping up Makarov, who only continued to watch Lucy silently, and running into the forest.

"Oh, I see," Kain suddenly boomed behind her. She quickly stood up and faced him, resuming her defensive stance. She had forgotten he was there for a moment, thanks to her traitorous heart's penchant for fluttering ridiculously whenever Natsu looked at her. She chalked it up as a side-effect of being on this side of the Veil. "You want some alone time with me."

Lucy blinked. "Um… no."

"Oh yes you do! I knew you returned my affections, pretty blonde lady! You sent your boyfriend away so we could be together."

Lucy snorted, "No way! He's not my boyfriend and I do not have any sort of affection for you, ya big creep!"

"So you're single? Even better!"

Lucy was about to retort scathingly when a fist suddenly came barreling in her direction. She leapt up and to the left, rolling and brandishing her scythe upon landing. She took in her surroundings—they were still in the clearing where Natsu defeated Zancrow and Kain was pulling his fist out of the crater he made in the ground and was turning to face her. She made a decision.

She ran, taking off into the trees that surrounded the clearing in the opposite direction that Natsu had gone. Fighting a behemoth out in the open like that would not be in Lucy's favor.

Cain was, as expected, pursuing her rapidly, if the chanted "Chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga," that accompanied his ridiculous running was anything to go by. He was quickly gaining ground, and Lucy found herself astonished by how light on his feet he was considering his size.

She realized that was the least of her concerns at the moment as she had apparently underestimated how close he was when she felt his hand chop into her back and send her flying with a yelp.

She hit a tree and dropped bodily to the ground. She looked up to see Kain hovering a few feet away, glowering at her. "If you won't give me any of your hair, I'll just have to use my own bristle."

Lucy was confused, until she saw him pluck a strand of dry, frizzy hair from head and place it on that of his weird cloth doll that she miraculously just then noticed was tightly clutched in his fist. On second thought… she was actually still confused. Perhaps more-so.

"Change Mr. Cursey—I wanna be iron!"

Lucy watched, transfixed as Kain's body was suddenly covered in iron. What kind of magic was this?

A moment later, Lucy found that she didn't care when he grabbed her by the front of her cloak and flung her into another tree. Lucy groaned and struggled onto her feet. It seemed that things hurt a lot more in this realm as well.

"You can't beat me lady. I may not look like much, but I'm still a member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory!"

Lucy scoffed, straightening into a low, defensive crouch and ripping her cloak from her shoulders to prevent it from further getting in her way. This left her in a black shorts and a white tank top that dropped off her shoulders. In her realm, she was rarely without her cloak that marked her as a reaper, but here, she found that she liked the freedom that she felt without it.

She faced Kain, and glared at him. "Well, that may be. But I'm Lucy, reaper of Natsu Dragneel, and it's my job to protect his soul. And Fairy Tail is his soul, so I refuse to let you hurt any of them!"

Kain looked at her blankly at her words, and Lucy realized that it likely sounded like gibberish to him. But that was just as well—he was an idiot. He recovered quickly though, and decided that he didn't care what she was saying anyway. "We'll see about that lady. Mr. Cursey, change into cotton."

Lucy could only watch in confusion as Kain floated into the air, but she caught on when he yelled "Change into iron" and came barreling towards her once more.

She was frozen in shock for a moment too long, and was just about to dive out of the way when a sandal-clad foot kicked him directly in the face and out of the way.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried in a mixture of surprise and delight.

He turned to face her, a strange look in his eye. "Did you mean what you said?"

Lucy's brows furrowed in uncertainty as she looked up at his unreadable expression from her crouched position on the ground. "When I said what?"

"That you would protect Fairy Tail? For my soul?"

Lucy tensed for just a moment before she relaxed, met his eyes, and smiled at him for the first time. "Of course I did Natsu!" she laughed, grinning widely. "I'd do anything for your soul."

Natsu looked at her, eyes narrowed in contemplation, before he held a hand out to her. She blinked in surprise, but placed her hand in his nonetheless, gasping when he pulled her to her feet so suddenly that she stumbled into him. Her cheeks heated when she caught herself on his chest, her hand touch the bare, toned flesh there, and she hesitantly met his eyes, waiting to see what he was doing.

"I knew that I've heard you before. You call for me sometimes, don't you?"

Lucy nodded, slowly, disbelievingly. "You aren't supposed to be able to hear me," she whispered.

Natsu grinned then, widely and with such joy it was contagious. It was the smile that she had seen him give to others so many times, but this one felt special, unique and different because for the first time, it was directed at her. "But I did. It was always quiet, and a lot of the time I thought I was just imagining it, but I heard you. You used to read me stories when I was young and searching for Igneel, and you cried when I found Fairy Tail and told me I would be happy there, and you're always there when I fight, warning me and trying to help me. You've always been there, and I didn't know if you were real or not, but I knew that when I heard you it made me feel like someone was watching over me, like someone did care."

Lucy nodded then, tears brimming her large chocolate eyes as she smiled up at Natsu. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that he could actually hear her, but she was relieved that he had. That he had known he was never really alone. That he always had her. "I did. I do. I was born to be bound to your soul Natsu—I grew up with you and I've always wanted you to be happy and to protect you. Coming here is forbidden, but I had to, because I couldn't stand the thought of you or anyone you care about being hurt because I was too scared to do something about it."

"Lucy," Natsu murmured, still smiling widely at her tear-stained face. It was the first time he had said her name, and she found that it had never sounded so good before. "Thank you. Really, I—"

"Hey! Don't you two have any decency?! Don't get all lovey-dovey in the middle of the battlefield!"

Lucy and Natsu sprang apart, turning to face Kain where he was finally rising from the rubble of the several trees he had knocked down when Natsu kicked him.

"We aren't being lovey-dovey!" they protested simultaneously, Lucy with her face aflame and Natsu with just a general pissed off expression.

"Whatever. If you wanna be handsy in front of me, I'll make sure it's the last thing you do!" Kain brandished his weird doll in front of him threateningly. Lucy tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him in confusion, before she saw the gleaming lock of blonde hair now attached to the top of its head. Her hand shot up to grasp at her scalp in surprise.

"What the heck?! When did you get—ep!"

She was violently cut off when her body moved of its own accord, tackling Natsu to the ground. She was now lying on top of him, and he had his face pressed to her ample chest, which seemed to be making it difficult to breath, as indicated by his muffled screams and flailing limbs.

"Ow! What the hell are you doing to me you giant marshmallow?" she demanded hotly, trying in vain to regain control of her own motor functions.

Kain chuckled darkly. "I told ya, Lady. Mr. Cursey has you now, and you'll do whatever I want!"

Lucy cried out as he suddenly repositioned the doll, making her joints bend and her tendons stretch in ways her body wasn't familiar with. Natsu, having been freed from the confines of Lucy's chest when she moved, sputtered and looked at her in shock.

"Lucy, what the hell are you doing now?!"

"I'm not doing this you idiot!" She yelled back, striking another pose without her consent. She could hear Kain giggling in the background, which only made her all the more pissed off. "Get the doll!"

Natsu finally managed to put two and two together and sprang into action. "Fire Dragon Talon," he roared, leaping at Kain with raised claws to only be intercepted by Lucy's unwilling body. She cried out in pain, and dropped to the ground.

"Lucy!" Natsu rasped in horror, staring at her in stunned silence before he turned his gaze to Kain and where he was holding his cursed doll in front of him and grinning darkly at Lucy's now injured form on the ground. "I'll kick your sorry ass for that!"

"Oh don't be like that. If you leave now, I'll let you go while I have my fun with Blondie over here, sound like a deal? I haven't been on a date in a while, so this might be fun!"

Natsu grit his teeth and shot the dark mage a look that promised death. "No. Way. In Hell am I letting you hurt Lucy anymore! She may not be a member of my guild, but she's been with me longer than anyone and she's my friend! If you want her, you'll have to go through me first!"

Lucy, who was struggling to regain her barrings after receiving such a hard blow from Natsu, had tears springing to her eyes. No one had ever stood up for her like that before—not Jellal, Mest, or any of the other Fairy Tail reapers. Not even Gray. They were certainly still her closest friends in her realm (particularly Gray), but reapers had more of a "fend for yourself" attitude. She had never expected to be in a situation like this, where Natsu knew her and considered her a friend of all things, but she was ridiculously, gloriously happy all the same. It didn't matter to her in that moment that she had broken countless laws to be there, that she was currently under the control of a sadistic, oddly-shaped dark mage who could kill her any second if he wished, or that she was now stuck on an island being attacked by several other dark mages who would be happy to finish the job even if Kain Hikaru didn't. She was with Natsu. She was Natsu's friend. She had never been happier.

Natsu lunged at Kain, right fist lit up with flames, and hit him squarely in the face with a roar of "Fire Dragon Iron Fist."

The doll went flying, and Lucy felt weightless for a moment before the doll landed roughly on the ground a few feet in front of her. Lucy, seizing her chance, scrambled to reclaim the doll. She had just touched it when she felt a large, sweaty hand grab her by the hair and yanked her back. She yelped, but clutched the doll to her chest tightly, not having any desire to lose control of her body again.

"You let go of her!" Natsu seethed, and suddenly all three of them were rolling down the hill.

"Oof!" Lucy chocked out as her back hit the base of a tree with a considerable amount of force. She slowly sat up to see Natsu and Kain engaged in a heated battle. Kain, now without his magic due to Lucy having captured his creepy doll, hit Natsu in the face with a staggering blow, sending him back several feet before he growled lowly and leapt at him again and hit him with a Fire Dragon Talon.

Lucy rose shakily to her feet. She was exhausted from using so much of her magic energy to travel between realms, her race away from Kain, her body being used against her will to do some rather strenuous activities and attacks, getting the brunt of a full-force from Natsu (though that was an accident on his part), and then rolling down a large hill and hitting a solid, stationary object. But she'd be damned if she didn't give this her all.

"Lucy!" Natsu called to her, looking over his shoulder as he dodged a punch from Kain. "Lucy, run! Go back to your realm, where it's safe. I've got this. Just go! Get out of here!"

Lucy didn't even hesitate. From the moment Natsu had called her his friend, she knew what she would do. "No way! I refuse to run back to my realm now. I'd rather stay here with you, Natsu. I can think of nothing that would make me happier." She looked up at him then, smiling through her exhaustion and pain, and saw him gaping at her in shock. "Besides, I think it's more fun when we're together like this, don't you?"

Natsu only remained frozen for a second more, before he returned her smile with one of his own. "Hell yeah! Then let's kick some Grimoire Heart ass, Luce!"

"Right!" Lucy agreed, rushing to his side and summoning her scythe once more.

Natsu leapt into the air, spinning, and kicked Kain with a flaming foot while Lucy ran at Kain's disoriented form, sliding on her knees, and slashed at his ankles with her scythe. She rolled out of the way of his falling body and felt Natsu land next to her. He offered her a hand and she took it without hesitation, allowing him to pull her to her feet. They watched as Kain rose from the ground, glowering darkly at them.

"I thought I said no more lovey-dovey!"

"Get over it," Lucy growled, rushing at him with her scythe raised. "Natsu!" she called.

"Ready when you are, Luce," he responded with a manic grin, somehow understanding what she was trying to ask of him without further information.

Instead of going for his legs this time, Lucy fainted to the left at the last second, dodging a grabbing hand, and slashed at his back. When he turned to reach for her, Lucy reared back, ran at him, leaping, and yelled "Lucy kick!" She landed a kick to his chin powerful enough to send him into Natsu's waiting fist, and when he inevitably came flying back at Lucy, now encased in flames, she spun her blade out and swung it down in an arc, catching him directly in the chest.

After that, Kain laid prone on the ground, twitching. "Okay," he groaned faintly. "I'm done now."

Lucy spared him a final glance before looking back up at Natsu, a brilliant smile on her face. "We did it!"

"Hell yeah we did! Awesome job Luce!"

Lucy looked at Natsu's smiling face, and found that she didn't want this moment to end. She had asked for one single moment of this—of being a part of Natsu's world, having him smile at her, talk with her, defeat bad guys with her. It was literally a dream come true. But it was time for her to wake up.

She allowed her scythe to fade back into nothingness, and approached Natsu slowly, a shy smile on her face. "Well, I guess I should head back to my realm now that Tubby is taken care of. It was great fighting beside you for once Natsu. Thank you," she said, trying her hardest to keep her smile in place and not let her disappointment show.

Natsu's brows furrowed and he looked at her incredulously. "What do ya mean go back to your realm?"

Lucy blinked at him, and looked around uncomfortably before meeting his gaze once more, though she did so unsurely. "Well… like I said, I'm really not supposed to be here. I should go back before anyone notices I'm gone," she reasoned, though she suspected it was already too late for her to make it out of this situation unscathed. There would surely be severe punishment for her interfering with her Bonded the way she had. It didn't matter though. She'd take it gladly, whatever it was.

"But I thought you wanted to stay here and help Fairy Tail? You said that you wanted to stay here. With…" Natsu hesitated, his gaze shifting to his feet as he finally mumbled, "with me."

"Of course I do, Natsu," Lucy rushed to assure him, reaching for his hand and forcing him to meet her eye. "I never want to leave. But I'm not human. I was never supposed to be here."

Natsu was uncharacteristically silent for a moment, watching her with searching eyes that seemed to burn her in the most pleasant of ways wherever they landed. He nodded when he seemed to have come to a decision, and released her hand to head back up the hill. Lucy watched him in confusion as he left her, not understanding what he was doing. Didn't he want to at least say goodbye?

It seemed that he didn't.

"Well," Natsu called over his shoulder when he realized she wasn't following. "Are you coming or not?"

Lucy shook her head sadly. "Natsu, I already said—"

"Yeah, yeah," He interrupted, turning to face her fully and placing his hands on his hips as he looked down at her. "You're not human, you don't belong here, whatever. Who cares? You fought for Fairy Tail, and that makes you as good as one of us in my book. The others will agree too. You don't have to do anything you don't want to anymore, Lucy," Natsu implored, looking at her with an uncharacteristic seriousness in his gaze. "If you want to stay here and be a part of Fairy Tail, then you will. If they want you to go back to your realm—well we'll deal with them when it happens, just like we do with anybody that threatens our nakama. So what do you say, Luce? Fairy Tail is under attack and we need all hands on deck if we're gonna beat Grimoire Heart. Are you coming?"

Lucy stared at the hand that Natsu had extended to her in disbelief. He wanted her to join Fairy Tail? He wanted her to stay here, with him?

Her gaze moved from his tanned hand to his obsidian eyes, searching for something she wasn't sure of until she found it.

Warmth.

She didn't have to be alone anymore, in the cold recesses of her realm where she had to wait for Natsu to die. No, she could stay here and live with him. Be an active part of his adventures rather than just a passive observer.

Was there really any other choice?

She grasped his hand tightly, tears in her eyes as she smiled with a warmth and radiance she didn't think she was capable of, and allowed her to pull her up the hill. To Fairy Tail. "I'm all fired up now."

 **A/N: So this was my first Fairy Tail fic. I really hope I did it justice. I definitely had a lot of fun writing it. Much of the dialogue from the fight with Zancrow and some of Kain's lines are taken directly from the anime episodes in which they occurred, just because it was easier to set up the narrative that way. Also Lucy's line is pretty close to what she says in the episode where Kain is seriously kicking her ass because it's beautiful and one of my favorites.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think!**


End file.
